Definitely not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a bunch of generic advice.
I've never tried this one but I've heard you should write that you're looking for a project car and that'll get people to tell you every little issue the car has.
The older versions of this guide were way more "witty".
The 4Runner would probably have had some quip about a roof top tent, balls in wife's purse. The Miata would have had the quintessential homosexual reference. The CTS would have had a joke about being a geriatric mfer. Stuff like that.
Personally I recommend Toyotas because they're no drama. You get in, turn the key and go where you need to go. When they fail they generally give you plenty of warning and will keep going anyway. Usually if you just do basic maintenance they'll run forever though. 300k miles isn't uncommon at all. I've put 130k on my 4Runner so far with absolutely no problems whatsoever (and I've taken it places in the desert most people have never heard of). I wouldn't hesitate to get in and drive 100 miles off pavement on a whim even with all that mileage, runs like the day I bought it.
If you do need to work on them they're put together in a way that doesn't make you wonder wtf the engineers were thinking. I've owned and worked on cars from all of these brands as well as a few I'm probably forgetting:
Toyota
Chevy
Ford
Volkswagen
GM (Saturn, Pontiac)
My Saturn SL2 was the easiest American car I've ever worked on, lots of clearance to get to things. Ford was by far the worst, in order to remove the AC compressor I also had to remove the radiator (which necessitated a coolant drain and fill) and power steering pump because there was 1/4" less clearance than needed to pull the bolts. If I'd paid someone it would have been thousands in labor.
By contrast I pulled and replaced the entire suspension on my 4Runner last summer in about 10 hours with just hand tools (upgrade, not replacing failed components).
> I like adventure, so I keep buying 15 year old German cars.
I want to capture this feeling again - my Civic just works, but my old Saab was just way more fun.
Of course, the Swedish electrical gremlins weren’t fun, and parts availability is even worse, but there are now effective clones for some of the proprietary tools and security systems and more information on DIYing for these cars than I could’ve ever dreamed of when I sold it…
Most people who are asking aren’t car people and want a reliable vehicle to take them from point A to point B with minimal maintenance. Toyota, and most Japanese car brands fit that bill.
If you care about driving characteristics, but also want a good reliable point A to point B car Hondas are a good alternative to Toyota. You perhaps trade the tiniest bit of reliability for better steering / pedal feel.
Auto manufacturers put their emphasis in different areas. Often it is a reflection of what a culture values itself. You find similarities in characteristics between the cars of a particular country. To generalize:
German Cars: Refined, good fit and finish, mechanically complex engineering sometimes at the expense of reliability. Same could be said for British cars.
Japanese Cars: Simple and reliable, well engineered and built using proven technology.
American Cars: Innovative and inventive, but often designed and built with a “good enough” approach. QA may be lacking on some makes/models.
Italian Cars: Beautifully designed with lots of personality, but often unreliable and with certain design/engineering quirks that would never make it out the concept phase for other brands.
Could go on, but you get the idea. Vehicle brands value different things. Often that is a regional / country specific thing. What you want depends on what you need / value.
I recently looked at used cars, and there was an additional $20k 'Toyota tax' when comparing a Toyota to a similar model of Ford, Kia, Hyundai, etc. The features and feel of the Toyota were also about 10 years behind the other cars - the Toyota felt cheap. I ended up going for a different brand, despite my friends' recommendations to get a Toyota for reliability.
The 'Toyota'/'Honda' tax on used cars is real. I'd say Toyota is the main one who has earned it [0]
The 'Subaru' tax less so... [1]
Mazda is somewhat the exception here; a lot of their stuff is some branch of the Ford tech branch lineage, but they at least went down the path of 'not leaking coolant into cylinders' with their engine design.
But I digress.
It's an information problem because the owner may or may not know about engine/transmission/electrical[2] The the first two parts of that are -fairly- consistent across models... you'll see some cars that frequently sell at certain mileage points, and sometimes part of that is because savvy owners know that it's near a hard maintenance point (or common failure point.)
[0] - Shift Flare on Aisin(Toyota) transmissions is far less of a real problem than many Honda 5 speeds, for example.
[1] - I've found my Subaru, despite having a reputation for being 'touchy' was perfectly fine up to the point an oil change was borked. After that it's been a slow downhill.
[2] - These are the biggest 'money pits' in my experience, baring 'cooling system' issues that were actually engine design issues (looking at you, AMC I6 Grand Cherokee!)
Subaru and Mazda have both gone down the drain when it comes to corner cutting. Their entry level cars are nice to look at with the latest tech but the core driving experience has been compromised. Subaru fully embraced belt-type CVTs and Mazda switched from a double wishbone to a much cheaper torsion beam suspension. They are basically the automobile equivalent of the last 2 gens of pre-M1 Macbooks where all the innovation is in the cheap frivolous parts while the main CPU and graphics (engine, transmission, and suspension) languished. The 2024 Impreza after more than a decade has only seen a pathetic 15 horsepower increase compared to their 2008-2011 generation, this is untenable in the age of electric cars. Subaru and Mazda should have partnered together instead of joining Toyota. Their quality may be improving but they are losing the soul of their brands.
Subaru embraced belt type CVTs because they provide better mileage than an automatic. The CVTs do have issues (mostly around cooling, is my understanding) but Mileage/Emissions are already hard for them I'd imagine.
> untenable in the age of electric cars
Frankly, Subaru is in a tough spot with that. Most of Subaru's unique 'value prop' outside of JDM is that their overall design makes for a fairly cheap but effective AWD system. AFAICT there's no good 'translation' to that for an electric car.
Mazda... I'm of the opinion they probably suffered a bit from Ford divesting most/all of their interest in them. (OTOH, Ford has suffered a bit, the more Ford tries to 'improve' the otherwise very reliable Mazda 4Cyl designs the more problems they seem to have...)
Modern 8-speed+ automatics are competitive, especially if you throw in some hybrid technology. Toyota's eCVTs are best in class (Ford also arrived at the same solution by dint of convergent engineering). They are much better than belt type CVTs. Subaru is now a Toyota partner just like Mazda, they have access to all the engineering they could want. Subaru and Mazda used to be enthusiasts' favored brand, now they are just making same boring commuter cars as everyone else. The WRX engineering has been split off from the Impreza, and the Mazda 3 is evangelizing torsion beams and gating standard safety features behind higher trims in the age of multi link suspension and self driving.
At this rate I might as well get an AWD Prius. Terribly disappointed with Subaru. It's not like they are unaware of the problems, visit any Subaru forum/subreddit and the common complaints are very obvious.
Because there are a ton of ill-informed consumers, not just in regards to automobiles, but everything.
There are only 4 cars that I ever shop for. Toyota Corrola, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Honda Accord.
It really makes it easy to shop, too. Only ask for those 4 cars. You're not just wandering aimlessly, ready for getting fleeced by an auto salesperson because you don't know what you want.
And of course, there is also the guy with the little penis buyer, needing to buy a Ferrari or Porsche or whatever. The funny thing is, my Honda Civic is just as fast as a Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, or whatever. I go 25 miles per hour in the suburban streets, 35 on main arteries, and 65 on freeways. None of those supercars can go faster than my Honda. So why pay $500,000 for a supercar??? Little penis.
Car guys recommend Toyota because someone who's asking what car they should buy probably just cares about affordable maintenance and not having their car in the shop all the time. If you just want to get from point A to point B, Toyota is probably your best bet.
If you ask what car would be the most fun to drive, or have the best interior comfort, you'd probably get a different answer.
It is kind of like asking an orthopedist about the best sport. They’d probably pick something boring like water aerobics.
Reliability isn’t always the most important characteristic of a car, especially now that reliability across all brands is dramatically better than just 30 years ago.
Because everyone and their mom has been recommending Toyotas for 20 years now, the price of used Toyotas have gone through the roof. They're still good reliable cars, just not cheap anymore like they used to be.
because not everyone wants the most reliable car.
Some people want a fast car
Some people want an electric car
Some people want an american car
Some people want a car that not everyone else has
Nice, but unfortunately (for people outside the US) very narrowly centered on the US market… as the "American Edition" in the title already points to. Which makes me wonder: Is there also a European edition?
